Garfield: His 9 Lives (TV Special)
The one-hour long television adaptation produced in 1988 featured four different* "lives." (consequently leaving out four of the lives in the book: "The Vikings", "Babes and Bullets", the "Exterminators" and "Primal Self". "Babes and Bullets" was adapted into a television special of its own the following year: "Garfield's Babes and Bullets", which won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program of 1989.) *"In the Beginning": Unlike the rest of the special, this prologue sequence is shot in live-action. (The scene where the angels question why God gives cats nine lives varies slightly from the storybook version; God's feline features are not seen—yet; he simply states that it might make a good jumping-off point for a good story.) *"Cave Cat" (1960) *"King Cat"*: In , the 's discovers what happens to him if the Pharaoh dies. *"The Garden" *"Court Musician"*: The king demands a from , and if the king doesn't enjoy it ... Under the pressure of a deadline, "Freddie" delegates part of the work to his pet, one of Garfield's incarnations, a blue cat in this life. *"Stunt Cat"*: Garfield is (briefly) a for . As Garfield explains before it starts, this life was his shortest. *"Diana's Piano"*: A young girl, Sara, receives a cat, Diana, who goes with her everywhere, especially to lessons. (This is the only one of Garfield's lives, in either the book or movie, where the cat is explicitly identified as female.) This story is told in flashback. The images are reminiscent of paintings. This story is closer than any of the others to reality; the cat, Diana, is just a normal cat. *"Lab Animal" *"Garfield" *"Space Cat": The epilogue for this special differs in two crucial ways from the one in the original book. In the movie segment, a cloning machine ensures that Odie is present in the flesh with Garfield in his ninth life. Secondly, whereas in the book, the events of "Space Cat" were revealed to be just a highly advanced computer simulation (most likely a game,) Garfield and Odie perish in this segment; however, they are allowed to meet God. ("God" is apparently modelled on pictures on Lorenzo Music, Garfield's long time voice.) Because the odds were so unfairly stacked against them in this last life, Garfield succeeds in convincing God to restore both himself and Odie to life; also, because Heaven's computers are down at the moment, they don't have the records of how many lives Garfield has already lived, so Garfield gets his full nine lives back (at Odie's prodding, Garfield covers for Odie, who also receives nine lives.) The segment ends with God noting that 'We have to stick together,you know.' as his yellow, slitted feline eyes glow momentarily (this deliberately echoes the scene from the book's version of 'In the Beginning,' where God's features are shown briefly, to explain why God grants cats nine lives.) This implies that God grants Garfield and Odie their new chance not because of computer problems, but because of his fondness for cats. Both the book and the movie joke that cats, not man, are created in God's image. Category:TV specials